Italian coach that plunged from fly over 'had lost transmission'

A coach that plunged 100 feet from a fly over in southern Italy last month, killing 39 passengers, had lost its transmission and suffered multiple brake failure, initial tests have shown.

Firefighters work on the wreckage of a bus that plunged off the A16 highway near Avellino, southern Italy, early on July 28Photo: AP

By Tom Kington in Rome

5:52PM BST 28 Aug 2013

The bus, which was carrying weekend trippers home, lost control near Avellino and careered out of a tunnel onto the flyover where it smashed into cars before breaking through a concrete barrier and falling into the ravine below.

As investigators began examining the wreck of the coach, Andrea Pianese, a lawyer representing relatives of victims, said a piece of vehicle transmission found on the road half a mile before the flyover had fallen from the coach.

Mr Pianese said early tests also showed the breaking of the transmission had in turn knocked out the coach's brakes. The coach had a back up brake system, but it was only working for one wheel.

"This could have caused the irregular trajectory of the bus as it came down the hill," he said.

Apart from the piece of transmission, another engine part was found on the road that did not come from the coach, he added.

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Mr Pianese spoke after observing investigators as they carried out initial tests on the coach at a deposit in Avellino where it is being kept alongside the 14 cars that were hit by the coach after it lost control.

Nine of the 48 passengers on board the coach survived the crash on July 28. The coach was returning to the town of Pozzuoli near Naples after a visit to a thermal bath and a religious site.